Witness in Gumede trial confirms lack of proper procedures followed

Another witness in the fraud trial of former mayor Zandile Gumede confirmed that proper procedures were not followed leading to the investigation of the irregular Durban Solid Waste (DSW) tenders.

Senior investigator in the eThekwini city integrity and investigations unit (CIIU), Shawn Hitler told the court during his cross-examination that he and his unit did not comply with investigation processes from the point when an anonymous tip-off was received about the allegations of fraud and corruption.

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The trial of Gumede and her 21 co-accused returned to the high court on Monday.

Gumede and the others face several charges, including conspiracy to commit corruption, corruption, fraud, money laundering, racketeering, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act and contravention of the Municipal Systems Act — for the multimillion-rand Durban Solid Waste (DSW) fraud and corruption amounting to more than R300 million.

The cross-examination of Hitler started in March and continued on Monday, conducted by the defence advocate Jimmy Howse.

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When Howse asked Hitler who the tip-off was addressed to, his answer differed from his previous claim. In March, Hitler had said he couldn’t recall; however, on Monday he said it was addressed to him.

Since there is doubt in my head that your memory could improve as time goes by, what evidence can you provide to prove that what you are saying is true.

Hitler said he couldn’t provide physical evidence, as he threw the envelope and tip-off away on that same day.

He added that he made a decision to discard the information as it was not a sworn statement and it was normal for the unit to throw away such documents.

Howse then pointed out to Hitler that according to the city integrity and investigations unit manual, all tip-offs or initial information on investigations should be kept for record purposes.

It was then that Hitler agreed and admitted that he did not follow due processes by throwing the tip-off document away.

Howse then proceeded to question Hitler on how the investigating company, Integrity Forensic Services (IFS) was appointed.

Throughout the trial it has come out that IFS was appointed without proper tender processes.

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Hitler’s version of events was that IFS was hired to conduct the investigation into the fraud and corruption because there was a person of interest who was common to this investigation and another that IFS was already conducting.

“For the sake of continuity it was decided that we use IFS to conduct the investigation,” said Hitler.

This was contrary to what the first witness, Mbuso Ngcobo, said in March, which was that CIIU used its “fairness” protocol to hire IFS.

Ngcobo recently resigned from his position as the head of the CIIU, as he claimed he was receiving death threats.

Howse concluded his cross-examination by insinuating that Hitler should agree that the state should throw out the case in its entirety, as processes were irregular from the start to the finish of the investigations into Gumede and others.

I think it’s fair to say that the entire appointment of IFS was irregular and how the unit handled the case from the beginning was unlawful.

The trial will continue on Tuesday with new witnesses to take the stand.